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Report clears CPS in death of Cedar Park foster child

Report clears CPS in death of Cedar Park foster child

A state inquiry has cleared Child Protective Services of any mistakes in the October death of a 1-year-old foster child in Cedar Park, even though investigators never scrutinized the chain of events leading to the fatal injury or questioned whether the girl’s social worker missed red flags that the baby was in danger.

On Thursday, the American-Statesman obtained the Office of Inspector General investigation into the death of Orion Hamilton from a request through the Texas Public Information Act. Orion died Oct. 20 after police say a man at her Cedar Park foster home crushed the baby’s head between his knee and the floor. Jacob Salas has been charged with felony child abuse and is being held in Williamson County Jail.

The inspector general was expected to examine whether CPS acted appropriately after Orion’s biological father warned the agency that Salas — who had been arrested multiple times on domestic abuse charges — was living in the foster home. The report also might have probed whether Orion’s social worker erred when she saw Salas in the home in April and raised no concerns, even though CPS already had determined that he wasn’t allowed to be around the child.

But the inspector general didn’t examine those issues. Instead the report focuses on the October 2012 case in which Orion was removed from her biological parents after being born with methamphetamine in her system. In that instance, the report states, Orion’s case was investigated properly and CPS took appropriate action.

CPS also followed agency protocol after the child died, investigators concluded.

“The review showed that the actions taken by CPS did not contribute to the child’s death,” the report reads. “CPS followed policy and procedures in conducting their investigation.”

Emily Hamilton, Orion’s mother, isn’t satisfied with that.

“It’s sad,” she said. “A little girl died, and they have no remorse. They don’t care. They just care about how they look.”

A spokeswoman for the state Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the inspector general’s office, couldn’t immediately provide additional information about the investigation.

Orion entered state care in October 2012 and spent about two months in a nonrelative foster home. Then Orion’s father, Brian Hamilton, agreed to send the baby to live with his stepsister, Heather Hamilton. She has three biological children with Salas.

Because of his history with CPS — he had been investigated three other times in cases involving his other children — Salas wasn’t supposed to be around Orion or any of his children, all of whom lived in the same home, according to court documents filed in Williamson County. But, in April, a CPS caseworker saw Salas there and didn’t raise concerns, state officials say.

In September, Brian Hamilton told state foster care workers that Salas was living in the home with Orion and that he posed a serious threat to the girl. Hamilton also lodged his complaints with the child’s court-appointed attorney.

Both CPS and the attorney say that they took the complaint seriously, but that they believed Heather Hamilton when she denied that Salas lived there. Multiple court documents filed over the last year, however, list the Cedar Park apartment as Salas’ home address.

After Orion died, Hamilton later admitted that she had lied and that Salas had been living in the home off and on for the last year, according court documents filed in Williamson County.

The Department of Family and Protective Services, which oversees CPS, is still conducting an internal investigation into what happened, spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.

“We hope to learn what we can from any mistakes that were made in this case as part of our larger effort to make foster care safer for our children,” he said.